1289 – Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Silence is wisdom, yet few put it into practice.” Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in Shuʿab al-Īmān with a weak chain, and he held that it is in fact mawqūf— a statement of Luqmān the Wise. (1)

Hadith grading
The report is mawqūf.
Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿIrāqī, in his verification of the hadiths cited in Ihyāʾ, wrote: Abū Manṣūr al-Daylamī narrated it in Musnad al-Firdaws, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, with a weak chain; and al-Bayhaqī narrated it in Shuʿab al-Īmān, on the authority of Anas, with the wording “Silence….” What is soundly established from Anas is that it is a saying of Luqmān. Ibn Ḥibbān likewise recorded it in Rawḍat al-ʿUqalāʾ with an authentic chain back to Anas.

Vocabulary
ḥikam: plural of ḥikmah (wisdom). The verb ḥakama, yaḥkumu means “to become wise.” Ḥikmah carries many lofty connotations, the most comprehensive being to place a thing exactly where it belongs.

Lessons derived from the hadith
1 – The narration highlights the merit of silence and counts it among the hallmarks of wisdom. Allah the Exalted says, “He utters no word but that there is, beside him, an observer ready [to record].” ⦗18⦘ [Q 50:18].
In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (6474) the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever guarantees me what is between his jaws and what is between his legs, I shall guarantee Paradise for him.” Al-Tirmidhī (2616) relates, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Do people tumble on their faces— or he said, on their noses— into the Fire for anything other than the harvest of their tongues?” Al-Tirmidhī also recorded (2406)